The Southampton “Never beens” XI

The Barclays Premier League champions have been decided, one team has already sealed their fate in the Championship next season, and a number of other sides have secured their place in England’s top division for another year. So, what else can the back pages and Twitter pages possibly use to fill their space and time? The Summer transfer window. In the spirit of those ludicrous stories and unbelievable rumours that are beginning to surface, I’ve collated my personal favourites that have been linked with a move to Southampton Football Club over the years. Welcome, to the Southampton “Never beens” XI.

Jack Butland

It’s 2012 and Southampton have just booked their place in the Barclays Premier League. All the promoted squad have done themselves proud, but Nigel Adkins and Southampton were always looking to the future. That summer, it was reported that Southampton bid £6M in an attempt to lure Jack Butland from Birmingham, but it proved unsuccessful. Looking back, it’s hard to know we’ve missed out on such a star, but we should take pride in knowing that as always, Southampton saw the talent within and went on to secure the signature of the six-foot-seven-inch giant that is Fraser Forster.

Davide Astori

Every. Single. Year. During the transfer windows of the previous three seasons, the name of this Italian defender has been a broken record for Southampton fans. Regardless of our defensive situations, online sources have always managed to find a way to link Astori to the Saints – be that as defensive backup, or as a sure starter alongside Jose Fonte, his name will always pop up. One thing is certain, however, and that’s that there never was, and never will be any truth in this now famous transfer rumour.

Terence Kongolo

It’s 2014 and Dutchman Ronald Koeman is the new boss of Southampton Football club. Having moved from Feyenoord and being instantly presented the task of finding a new centre-back at Southampton, transfer pages were jumping with joy at the believable rumours that they could conjure up. Being Dutch, a player of Feyenoord and vacating the Eredivisie sides centre-back spot, Kongolo was the obvious target for transfer rumour stirrers.

Ron Vlaar

To complete the back-line is yet another man who was linked to Southampton via the most logical reasons possible. Vlaar is Dutch, he had previously worked under Ronald Koeman and was running down his contract at Aston Villa in 2015, in search of bigger and better things. However, despite Koeman admitting he is an admirer of Vlaar, he never once tried to sign the Dutch defender, even as a free agent last summer.

Saphir Taider

The Algerian midfielder was linked with Southampton many times over the 2014/15 window, but he eventually… oh. Moving on…

Leon Goretzka

Despite being only 21-years-old, one of the Bundesliga’s hottest young talents, a regular for Germany’s U21 side and playing at the Bundesliga’s finest developers of young talent – Schalke – we managed to get our hopes up of signing this German prodigy. It was reported that Southampton placed a bid for the midfielder last summer, but after much discussion over his future, it all simmered down. Before we knew it, we were all onto the next rumour.

Wesley Sneijder

Simply put, this man who would have ended Southampton’s long-running desperate need for a goalscoring number 10. And what makes this even harder to swallow, is that the club were genuinely monitoring the Dutchman’s situation at Galatasaray in January 2015. Despite the transfer looking like the usual (insert comment about the manager and player both being from the same country and therefore making the transfer ten times more likely) rumour, the interest only came to a close due to wage demands. What could’ve been, eh?

Jesus Navas

When a newly promoted team reaches January in the Premier League, it’s seen as a window of opportunity to right your team’s wrongs of the season so far. So, when Southampton had been struggling to get in behind defences and fans went online to see that we were being linked with Jesus Navas, it was looking to be a beautiful deadline day. However, it looked like the Southampton fans had jumped the gun. So much so, that there was never even a gunshot.

Philippe Coutinho

The one that got away. All fans know and admire the talent that this midfield maestro holds, but perhaps few more so than Southampton. Not only has he built up quite the knack of scoring wonder goals against the boys in red and white, but there was a time when the Brazilian looked to be on his way to St Mary’s. After having a £10.2M bid accepted by Inter Milan, fans were ecstatic at the prospect of watching the magician. However, Coutinho held other ambitions and opted for Liverpool instead. On the bright side, maybe it saved us the heartbreak.

Danny Ings

Having continually been linked to Southampton from the second he started firing goals in for the Clarets – back in 2011 – it would have been no surprise if Danny Ings was recruited to either one of Adkins, Pochettino or Koeman’s army. Up until the ex-Southampton academy boy put pen to paper on a deal with Liverpool FC, It was a go-to transfer rumour for all sources looking to hit some numbers online.The fans certainly bought it every time it popped up, but perhaps what was best about this on-going rumour was the nightmares that Ings’ Southampton born family caused. Whenever Ings was spotted in Southampton to visit family, excited Southampton fans would be quick to post images and fuel the fire on Ings’ next move. I wonder how much the bookies have made from these sightings?

Leandro Damiao

If anyone in this XI could challenge Astori for the title of the greatest Southampton “never been”, then it’s Leandro Damiao. Since early 2012, the Brazilian forward has been linked with almost every club under the sun, but Southampton were mentioned each and every time until 2014. The reason for the reports stopping? Damiao claimed that Southampton weren’t ambitious enough as a club. Since those comments, Damiao has enjoyed (or not) two poor spells at Santos and Cruzeiro (loan), followed by two appearances at Real Betis. I believe that the chant is “Who the f*ck is laughing now” Leandro.

So, that was our Southampton “never been” XI, but we would love to hear what you think! Send us a tweet @freshsaints to let us know your views on this XI, and if there are any players you think should be in this team, be sure to tell us.